MOVING BY THIRDS

When I write and can't think of anything to write I follow the Natalie Goldberg advice, "Keep the hand moving." When I don't want to exercise and I need to I follow my own advice, "The body dies unless it keeps moving." That is not the kind of moving I am talking about. We are physically moving from one city to another. Moving from a 3000 sq. ft. home on 1/3 of an acre adjoining many other acreages that are all unfenced and a bit of heaven to a 2 bedroom apartment a little bit over 900 sq. ft. We are being so drastic so that we can try to sell our Portland, Oregon home in a bad market. So the plan goes like this: 1/3 of the stuff goes to storage, 1/3 of the stuff goes to our apartment and 1/3 of the stuff stays here so our home is "staged", the modern term for making a house look like a model home from a magazine. None of the stuff of personality is supposed to stay. It all has to look like we are sparse interior decorators who just love to look at 19 foot ceilings with nothing in the way. The real intention is to not distract the potential buyers from actually seeing the house, as opposed to seeing the STUFF.
All of that stuff I mentioned...We have also thrown away or given away about 1/3 of it. It is amazing beyond comprehension how one can accumulate things and never notice that the nooks and crannies are filling up. It is a slow and devious process that begins to take over a home and pretty soon the corners are screaming to be seen again, but the stuff keeps them silent. Not any more! The stuff that is accompanying us to Seattle, Washington is the stuff we really want plus the stuff that we didn't have time to sort through. Little does it (the stuff) know that I now know how to be ruthless. My husband and I have called each other Ruth and Les. I'll ask, "what to you think?" and he'll reply, "Ruth!", so I throw it away. You know the flip question and answer, don't you.
Our movers come in three days and I'm awake at 4:30 in the morning with my head swimming with overload. What do I think about, you ask. One would suppose that worry would be flooding my mind with the impending due date on preparation. Nope! The beginnings of a way to put three different stories into one has pushed its way through the thoughts of stuff and is running rampant. I have tucked it away into my file of things to write about and now I'm attacking a corner of stuff that has been eluding me. I'll get you my dearies.....!